Birth Story part 2... The Name

So at the end of part 1, LoLo and I were whispering about what to name our brand new baby girl. I don't remember if I wrote about it here, but LoLo had come up with the names for our future children years ago. See, LoLo is pretty superstitious and had a dream maybe 4 or 5 years ago (before we were even married) where our children came to him and told him their names. There was a little boy and a little girl and when LoLo asked them where their parents were, they told him he was their father. So then he asked them their names and they told him.

The little girl told him her first and middle names. LoLo said for years that we had to use this name because he didn't want to mess with whatever spirit brought him the name.

You may recall our baby is Alexia Lidia. This name didn't come without a fight. See, the little girl from the dream said her name was Alexia, but her middle name wasn't Lidia (and LoLo forbids me from publishing what she said her middle name was!).

Thank you to my sister for this birth announcement!

For me, it's always been really important to use family names and to pass on the tradition of names. On my mom's side of the family, there are a few names that are repeated quite often: Lydia/Lidia, Marta/Martha (still pronounced "Marta"), Anne, and Carmen are a few.

My mother's name is Lydia, my middle name is Lydia, my great-grandmother's name was Lidia, my cousin's name is Lydia, and my other cousin... and I wanted my baby girl to be a part of that tradition. 

When the doctor showed us that we had a baby girl, LoLo and I looked at each other, knowing it was going to be a battle to decide the name. I used all of my best arguments... "Please! I just pushed a baby out! You saw what I had to go through! Please let me have a say in the middle name at least."

LoLo looked at me and said, "Really, Erin??" But he knew he'd lost.

Then he turned to the nurse and said, "Her name is Alexia Lidia Santana."